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39
inhabitants of the Metropolis, the burden that would be imposed
upon the ratepayers of your Petitioners' district, if the scheme were
carried in to effect under the provisions of the Bill, would cause such
an enormous addition to the present heavy rates that your petitioners
view with great alarm the proposals of the Bill.
(13.) That it appears upon reference to the deposited plans and
Books of Reference that about two-thirds of the area of the lands proposed
to be dealt with under the Bill is public property under the
care and control of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England aud
Wales.
(14.) That your Petitioners strongly object to the Bill for the following:,
among other reasons:—
(i.) That the body of Conservators proposed to be established
by the Bill will not adequately represent the interest of your
Petitioners' district, and that the said Conservators if established
as proposed will be an absolutely irresponsible body.
(ii.) That the Bill proposes that the Conservators may raise the
monies necessary for the purchase of the land and the formation
of the recreation ground (the amount is not specified in
the Bill but is estimated by your Petitioners to reach a sum of
nearly £400,000) by requiring payments of the same from the
Metropolitan Board of Works, towards which payment your
Petitioners would have to contribute their rateable proportion,
(iii.) That by the Bill it is proposed to raise the money necessary
for the maintenance of the recreation ground "and for
defraying the establishment and other current expenses of the
" Conservators " by requiring payment from your petitioners,
which would inflict upon the ratepayers of your Petitioners' district
a threefold taxation, inasmuch as such ratepayers have
now to contribute, firstly, their rateable proportion of the cost
of purchase and maintenance of public parks and open spaces
in the Metropolis, secondly, their proportion of the cost of
purchase of the land proposed by the Bill to be purchased,
and, thirdly, they would have to bear in perpetuity the
whole cost of the maintenance of the said recreation ground
together with the expenses of the establishment and current
expenses of the Conservators.
(iv.) That hitherto the cost of the land purchased by the Metropolitan
Board of Works and the maintenance thereof as parks
and open spaces for the public advantage and health and enjoyment
of the inhabitants of the Metropolis has been borne
by the ratepayers ot the Metropolis at large.
(v.) That it is not expedient that any irresponsible body should
be empowered to raise money from the Metropolis or of your
Memorialists' district for the purposes of the Bill.
That the preamble of the Bill is incapable of proof.
Tour petitioners, therefore, humbly pray that this Bill may not pass
into a law, and that they may be heard by themselves, their counsel,
agents, and witnesses against the same and the preamble thereof, and in